Two friends of mine made the finals in New York High School doubles tennis (or some sub-division of such), the last couple of games were played on some of the U.S. Open courts in Flushing Meadows (though not Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong, the two main courts). They were very excited to play on these courts. Also, they lost abysmally in the final (it may have been the semi-final, actually, can't quite remember).
There are any number of sports where playing on a specific standardized court is cool. During the NHL strike they were renting the Bruin's ice out to anyone who wanted to pay $400/hr, and they had plenty of takers. People pay a lot of money to get on to historic baseball fields through things like fantasy camps. I suppose there are even people out there who'd like to drive their pickup truck around a famous big oval.
Oh, I think you'd get lots of sports fans who would love to play on their team's turf (rink/court/track/course.) At Notre Dame, the championship inter-hall football game is held at Notre Dame stadium; as it's the only use of the stadium other than varsity football, this is a Pretty Big Deal.
What's unique about golf is that it's relatively common for fans to be able to play on the courses, and the courses are unique (as someone upthread mentioned).
Tennis courts, one should note, aren't genuinely standardized -- finding a surface just like the one at Wimbledon would be a bit of a challenge. It's not like golf where each course is unique, but they aren't all the same, either.
Golf is one of the few sports where ordinary people can play on many of the historic courses where the pros play
Given that we have shown labs doesn't know what he's talking about (IKBIL), I'll have to ask if this is true. Isn't there a horrendously expensive fee to play on many golf courses? I'd google up a historic golf course, but I don't know any.
Try Augusta National. It's expensive, but lots of non pros still play it. Would be like letting all the peeps in the box seats down onto Soldiers Field for two-hand touch.
Two friends of mine made the finals in New York High School doubles tennis (or some sub-division of such), the last couple of games were played on some of the U.S. Open courts in Flushing Meadows (though not Arthur Ashe or Louis Armstrong, the two main courts). They were very excited to play on these courts. Also, they lost abysmally in the final (it may have been the semi-final, actually, can't quite remember).
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 11:51 AM
Do people who play tennis want to play on the courts at Wimbledon?
Of course they do, holboner. If I'd so much as stumbled onto the Chicago Stadium floor, I'd have milked it for at least five posts.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 11:56 AM
Also, you said "the reason...is because."
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 11:57 AM
You don't have to jump all over him just because his post blew donkey.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:01 PM
There are any number of sports where playing on a specific standardized court is cool. During the NHL strike they were renting the Bruin's ice out to anyone who wanted to pay $400/hr, and they had plenty of takers. People pay a lot of money to get on to historic baseball fields through things like fantasy camps. I suppose there are even people out there who'd like to drive their pickup truck around a famous big oval.
Posted by SP | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:11 PM
Also, you said "the reason...is because."
I've stopped even trying to dissuade people from that.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:15 PM
People will ride some of the same routes that the Tour de France follows.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:15 PM
You can run laps on a racetrack at Delphi.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:17 PM
I think there is a marathon each year that follows the (alleged) original 26 mile course that what's-his-name-ides ran. But nobody dies at the end.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:19 PM
Unless they want to, unless they want to.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:21 PM
nobody dies at the end
I'd keel over dead long before the end if I tried to hoof 26 miles.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:22 PM
Oh, I think you'd get lots of sports fans who would love to play on their team's turf (rink/court/track/course.) At Notre Dame, the championship inter-hall football game is held at Notre Dame stadium; as it's the only use of the stadium other than varsity football, this is a Pretty Big Deal.
What's unique about golf is that it's relatively common for fans to be able to play on the courses, and the courses are unique (as someone upthread mentioned).
Posted by Cala | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:23 PM
Pheidippides.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:26 PM
Poofdeades.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:29 PM
Kixdebuketes.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:33 PM
Salamis.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:34 PM
Heslippides
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:39 PM
Tennis courts, one should note, aren't genuinely standardized -- finding a surface just like the one at Wimbledon would be a bit of a challenge. It's not like golf where each course is unique, but they aren't all the same, either.
Posted by Matthew Yglesias | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:39 PM
He was giving news of the battle of marathon, no? Hence the name.
Then he fell down. tragic.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:40 PM
People will ride some of the same routes that the Tour de France follows.
The Etape du Tour happens every year. Regular cycling joes get to tackle Alpe d'Huez, or the col de Madeleine.
But for me... The Koppenberg is my Wimbledon. Wish I could remember how to link.
Posted by girl27 | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:41 PM
Golf is one of the few sports where ordinary people can play on many of the historic courses where the pros play
Given that we have shown labs doesn't know what he's talking about (IKBIL), I'll have to ask if this is true. Isn't there a horrendously expensive fee to play on many golf courses? I'd google up a historic golf course, but I don't know any.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:42 PM
Of course, I click the link after I type.
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:44 PM
Try Augusta National. It's expensive, but lots of non pros still play it. Would be like letting all the peeps in the box seats down onto Soldiers Field for two-hand touch.
Which maybe they do, I don't know.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:45 PM
If Nocangeogonanon hadn't keeled over, who knows how history would have unfolded. Hitler might have won WWII!
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:53 PM
Yeah, and Link wouldn't have had to go through all that bother with the Triforce.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 12:57 PM
This is even more freely associative than usual. Purple monkey dishwasher.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:02 PM
It might've been a pink monkey and instead a self-cleaning oven, had Gannon won the battle of Salamis.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:03 PM
or if that horse-headed fellow won the battle of the bulge.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:14 PM
If truths were beans she could counterfactuals.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:14 PM
if beans were truths, their prices on the merc exchange would be much higher.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:19 PM
The people don't want truth, text.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:22 PM
But they would, if they could buy it.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:23 PM
The text doesn't admit to verification, only interpretation.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:24 PM
A truth bought on sale is worth a hill of beans.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:25 PM
what about interpretations? would that commodity trade at a decent rate?
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:27 PM
Does the text permit versification?
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:28 PM
A truth bought on sale > the problems of three little people in this crazy world.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:29 PM
The horse-headed fellow was from The Adventure of Link. Please, try to stay off-topic.
Posted by Kriston | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:29 PM
Of all the movies in all the world, you had to allude to that one.
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:30 PM
Don't bogart all the allusions, people.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:35 PM
I have three albums whose names begin with a "t" and end with an "l".
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:35 PM
36 -- only if it's catchy
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:36 PM
Whoops! Four.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:37 PM
But eleven which begin with an "l" and end with a "t"!
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:37 PM
this is now officially a dada thread.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:37 PM
[coelacanth ~ 02:38:32]$ albums --match "album:^l.*t$"
0001. Bob Dylan - Love And Theft
0002. Etron Fou Leloublan - Les 3 Fous Perdegagnent
0003. Hecate vs Lustmord - Law of the Battle of Conquest
0004. Henry Grimes Trio - Live at Kerava Jazz Fest
0005. Het - Let's Het
0006. Last Exit - Last Exit
0007. Lyle Lovett - Lyle Lovett
0008. Miriodor - Live at Nearfest
0009. Old Time Relijun - Lost Light
0010. Philharmonie - Le Dernier Mot
0011. Scorch Trio - Luggumt
[coelacanth ~ 02:39:19]$
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:38 PM
dada entry
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:39 PM
Comment is made in the fingers.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:44 PM
Comments meant address.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:45 PM
PWNED, Labs!
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:45 PM
No pwnation without attributation.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 1:49 PM
Robotical eyes are in motion.
Robotical what do they see?
Robotical eyes are in motion.
Please scan me robotically.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 2:00 PM
The reader is the text.
We are all the text.
The text is not a New York lawyer
The text is an Iranian philosopher swimmer
The text is a North Carolinan technical writer
The text is a deliciously domineering copyeditor
The text is an entirely different New York Lawyer
The text is a midwestern marketer
The text is you
The text is you
The text is you
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 2:21 PM
text is easy with three java classes
text is the preserved word of god?
text is unreadable
text is incomplete
text is controllable via javascript
text is missing from html file for framemaker paragraphs set to
text is hard to read in framemaker 5 for dec alpha
text is meaningless if you can't read it
text is difficult too
text is difficult
text is good enough
text is whining
text is unavailable
text is abstracted from j
text is formatted for our printed catalogue
text is for email" by bob osgoodby
etc.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 2:28 PM
chopper is for sale
chopper is a fun
chopper is hiring
chopper is downed
chopper is spotlighted
chopper is here
chopper is a bi
chopper is a dream many people have
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 2:30 PM
matt weiner is completely correct about how the senate vastly overrepresents rural americans at the expense of urban ones
matt weiner is gay
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 2:30 PM
text
textile
style
isle
I'll
ill
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 2:31 PM
my favorite:
text is text
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:01 PM
Texting me textly with his text,
Texting me textly with his text,
Texting my whole text with his text,
Texting me textly with his text.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:05 PM
A IS A
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:08 PM
A IS
You just blew my mind.
Not ATM.
Posted by washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:11 PM
I enjoyed 59 more than I rightly should have.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:26 PM
I'm totally channeling Lauren Hill right now.
♫ Na na na na, na na na, na nah, whoa-oh-oh, … ♪
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:38 PM
When are you not?
Posted by Tarrou | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:49 PM
eggplant is the answer
eggplant is funny
eggplant is one of the trickiest vegetables to prepare to achieve that perfect silky texture
eggplant is a cold
eggplant is a native of south and eastern asia and is a member of the nightshade family
eggplant is freshness
eggplant is an issue of variety and age
eggplant is really just that
eggplant is the sweetest of all
eggplant is a warm
eggplant is very soft
eggplant is not soft
eggplant is the best vegetable
eggplant is purging
eggplant is inside all of us
eggplant is? i am guessing that
eggplant is nothing special
eggplant is another matter
eggplant is a rather low
eggplant is delicious
eggplant is
Posted by Michael | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:52 PM
When are you not?
I didn't know I exuded such Laurenhillosity.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:57 PM
64 -- when SB is channelling the deranged, gifted offspring of Lewis Carroll and Ira Gershwin, which is fairly often.
Posted by text | Link to this comment | 07-18-05 3:58 PM
Sorry, Google doesn't know enough about unfogged yet.
wtf?
Posted by Mitch Mills | Link to this comment | 07-19-05 7:48 PM